Wednesday, April 25, 2007

because it's my birthday....

Yep, more Jeff Beck...only this time it's 1967 and the Jeff Beck Group featuring the unknown singer, Rod Stewart performing Shapes live. I saw this band in Detroit at the Grande Ballroom and we all thought Rod was a girl with a particularly greasy bouffant hair do. He was very shy on stage, rarely singing facing the audience.I'm abusing you all with Jeff Beck because it is my birthday and it's my party!Oh, yeah, Sepp! You're invited to this one!

Thank you very much for the birthday wishes!Mike, I can't believe you hadn't heard of the first Jeff Beck Group and their truly groundbreaking classic album Truth!The bass player was Ron Wood.I read an interview by Jeff Beck in which he is asked if he ever jammed with Jimi Hendrix. He expressed great respect for Hendrix but said he never got a chance to play with him, because he hated hanging out in clubs and staying up all night.Kind of like the reason he left the Yardbirds...and I think that is the reason he looks so good at plus 60 years.

My birthday celebration was subdued as my wife had major dental work done that day. I finished the house restoration I had been working on for the last month and got paid!I came home, cut the lawn, took the dog for a long walk. I did order Mavis Staples new CD from Amazon which should arrive today! We ar having a dinner party with my friend whose birthday is next week when I get back from Neac.58? My new role model is Jack Benny who died at the eternal age of 39.

I have an uncle who is still 27 for 50 years now. he says my daughters are too old for him to date now. He always looked like Paul Newman. A navy wwII vet.They still have reunions with his navy buddies --and an annual croquet tournament of old friends from another city. Maintaining ties from the past is healthy, something more people like me should've taken time for.

You do open a window on the world with your blog, Mr. H.--books and music I've never heard of, etc.

We always moved our birthday celebrations around --to accommodate everyone's schedules --nothing sacred about THE day.

for your profile --why are you in france and where and how did you meet Mrs. Microdot? or is that classified info?

My wife and I met playing rock music in New York. It was a band that originated in France and came to New York in the late 70's and ended up recruiting an American Rythmn section. We performed songs in French and English and played for almost 3 years during the punk/new wave era. Then we composed music for dance and theater pieces at the La Mama Theater and also for the Japanese Buto Dancer Popo. I was in afew other rock bands and worked with a lot of other musicians on various projects.Believe it or not, I made my living as a graphic artist, exhibited in galleries and recently was in a few group shows in New York that focused on the history of East Village Style and Punk Graphics!!I worked from 1987 until 2000 doing specific special effect movie make up. I was the person who could create the tattoos for chartacters in movies...I was the designer for DeNiros tattooed torso in Cape Fear and Sean Penn( I had to make designs that fit around his real tattoos) in Dead Man Walking to name a few. I also designed and applied the work for the tattooed man in the Absolut Vodka Ad in the early 90's.I started to come to France regularly in the 1980s and then stumbled onto a part of France that was literally the most beautiful place I have ever been. It helps that I love the food, language, history and culture!

I saw Liz Taylor once in the back of a limo in NYC on the class trip -I got a blurry picture with a brownie camera--we were waiting at a stage door to see Lauren Bacall after Applause (which we did not see) -don't recall seeing her --saw Billy Graham at a crusade --from a distance--but not much claim to fame in my life. Went to a Jack Kemp rally once here at Springfield H.S. Is marcy kaptur a celeb? My daughter visited Joan Cusack at her home, an office party for her husband who was CFO in a company with Joan's husband. Last but not least, we're good friends with a guy who claims Katie Holmes kissed him at a high school party while she was uti.

Well, that's all. I might even be acquainted with blog celebrity LD if I knew who he was.

Art & Culture Touareg

Groupe Coordination Aude Mali

Groupe Coordination Aude Mali assists refugees from Timbuctu with their basic survival needs in the refugee camp in Djibo, Burkina-Faso.
Most of them have gone back to their homes near Timbuctu and GCAM has restarted our school with 4 classes.
We already have more than 70 students attending every day but we still need basic tools and food which GCAM provides. We also pay the salaries of the 2 teachers.
With your help we could do major repairs on buildings that are partially destroyed. You can help us financing this school. A small donation goes a very long way. Thank you so much!

Groupe Coordination Aude Mali is a non profit NGO based in France. Please make a donation to support the Touareg victims of the crisis in Mali. Thank you.

About Me

Well, okay...I'm a Detroit boy transplanted to the wilds of rural France, hacking my way through the cultural underbrush.
I am an artist, I was a rock musician, professional chef and a railroad drawbridge operator. I'm just here to help.